Stamping out violence

About 7% of women — largely from southern Thailand — and 8.4% of men in the Central Region of the country continue to believe that domestic violence is justified in a relationship, according to the Sixth Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey for Thailand (Mics 6), a national survey conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO) every three years with help from Unicef.

The recent results, which covered an extensive range of issues relating to women and children and also included a chapter on gender equality in adulthood, revealed that domestic violence is still considered a normal part of married life to a certain extent.

A fraction of women and men — between the ages of 15-49 — that were surveyed felt wife-beating was justified for any of the following reasons: the wife goes out without telling the husband; the…